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THE
TIME was 3:00 P.M., and I was feeling low.
I had been a naughty boy the night before. That had to be the moment when
Walt encountered me in the hall and gave me a rush order:
"Ollie, I want a serious song, but it's got to be funny." The further information that it
was to be for a picture telling Donald Duck's adventures in Nazi
land didn't help very much. "What do you mean?" I
asked. "Suppose the Germans are
singing it," Walt offered. "To them, it's serious. To us,
it's funny." Walt walked away. I stood in the
hall. I continued to stand in the hall. Once more I was on the spot. Arriving home disgruntled, I
encountered no idea while eating dinner. Then I laid down for a rest.
"To hell with it," I told myself. The wee small voice told me what
it thought of me. It was a familiar routine. "Get off your back and get
on your bike," said my wife. "You're going to the store
with me." The fresh air brought out the
nobility in me. I turned receptive and laid myself wide open to any
idea . There
ought to be a German band . The music came to me in one
flash. It nearly knocked me off the bicycle. My mouth opened in
surprise. There followed a second surprise. Words |
came out of that mouth. I heard
myself singing with the loudness which distinguishes my voice: "Ven Der Fuehrer says, 'Ve
iss der Master Race,' Ve Heil! Heil! Right in Der
Fuehrer's Face." My wife laughted. "Who wrote that?" "I'm writing
it!" I yelled--and almost ran into a truck. Half an hour later, it was
finished. I sang it to my two daughters (separately) --and when each
said she liked it, I thought I had something. But would Walt like it? Arriving at the studio next day,
I sang it all over the place. The sound brought Walt out into
the hall (where he does most of his business). "Let's hear it," he
said. I stalled. "Orchestration .
. . there's a funny sound in it . . . can't be made without an
instrument . . . has to be practiced . . ." The truth is, I
didn't know what Walt would think of the highly robust Bronx cheer.
Could such a sound be used in a Disney picture? "Let's hear it," said
Wait. I let loose. Walt laughed. The rest is history. SOURCE: Dispatch from Disney's, op. cit. |
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